Blue Escape
by Eureka89
Summary: Lewis asks for a few scales to test his new invention. A couple of guys overhear the conversation and seek a bounty on the girls.
1. Moon Ties

The full moon shone bright outside. Inside the Gilbert house Emma was double checking the cardboard pieces that Rikki had just finished putting over the windows. Cleo sat patiently on Emma's bed clutching her phone. Lewis was normally early and helped them cover the windows. It worried Cleo that he would be so sloppy tonight. None of them liked to be moon struck, it was like having memory loss, they couldn't remember what they did.

"Why do you always have to do that?" Rikki asked annoyed, "Do you not trust me?"

"I'm just being extra careful. I've already fixed a few gaps." Emma responded.

"What gaps? I'm not that careless." Rikki grabbed a pillow off the bed and threw it at Emma, then quickly took another as she jumped away from the bed. Emma caught the pillow accepting the challenge. Cleo moved to the head of the bed as her phone rang. She didn't bother to look at her caller I.D. only one person would call her this late at night.

"Hello Lewis?" she answered.

"I'm sorry I'm late Cleo." Lewis was out of breath, "I don't want to risk coming inside. I think I'll just camp out here."

"Are you sure? What if Emma's dad sees you."

"I'll leave as soon as the moon goes down…"

"Look what you've done now!" Emma yelled.

"Is everything alright in there?" Lewis asked slowly.

"Hold on Lewis." Irritated Cleo raised her hand and sent a jet of water shooting out of a cup across the room, soaking both girls. They began to advance on Cleo then toppled over as their tails appeared.

"Everything's fine Lewis. See you at school." Cleo signed off.

"That was not cool Cleo." Rikki said through clenched teeth.

"What was I supposed to do? You were going to knock down the cover."

"I was not, Emma was. Is Lewis here yet?" Rikki had her legs back and was helping Emma dry off.

"Yeah, but he is going to stay outside. We should get some sleep now. I can't afford to fall asleep in biology again."

The alarm went off early in the morning. Rikki groaned and rolled over as Emma and Cleo began to get out of bed. Cleo was the first ready and began to take the boards off the windows. It was rare that they made it through a full moon without incident. Everyone took it for granted but Emma silently kept count. She liked to plan ahead and learn from their successes as well as their failures. They rotated houses which made it a little tricky to plan. Sometimes they had to make last minute changes, she liked the challenge.

"Oh no, you guys. Lewis fell asleep in the bushes, look." Cleo pointed out the window, "Someone should wake him before he's seen."

"I'll do it." Emma opened the window and began to slowly freeze the air around Lewis. He jumped up after a few minutes with a yelp.

"Do you need me to warm you up Lewis?" Rikki joined the others at the window. Her hair was disheveled and sleep was still in her eyes, an evil grin spread across her face. She didn't intend to hurt him, but the insinuation didn't hurt.

"No, no that's alright. A jog will do."He quickly left the property knowing very well the wrath Rikki could bring him.

"Are you girls ready yet?" Emma's mom asked from behind the bedroom door, "Breakfast is ready."

"Next time we stay at Cleo's house." Rikki mumbled, "Where I can sleep in."

At school Lewis found Emma and Rikki at their normal meeting place on the lawn. School didn't start for ten more minutes. Lewis was surprised he made it there that early.

"Where is Cleo? I've got something important to ask all of you." He was excited.

"Doesn't matter. The answer is no." Rikki said harshly.

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"So?"

"Well…meet me at JuiceNet after school. All of you. This is important." Lewis readjusted his bag and went to class.


	2. Chapter 2

Lewis waited at a booth with a large box on the table. The girls slowly walked in and sat down with him. They weren't excited about giving samples. Rikki hated it, and didn't give anything up without a fight. The JuiceNet Café was unusually empty, only a few customers scattered around the computers at the bar. Lewis had taken this into account and picked a booth near the back but not completely away from all the guests. He looked each of the girls in the eye before beginning his plea.

"I have built a machine that should help me find out more about your…um fish problem. The thing is I need a tiny favor from all of you. I need a scale. Just one, from each of you." He said quickly.

"You what! Those might not grow back." Cleo said astonished he would ask.

"I've already told you no." Rikki added, "This is a waste of time."

"Why don't you find a dead one that has fallen off? I'm sure there are a few on Mako." Cleo suggested.

"Because I need a fresh sample." Lewis informed.

"Besides it sounds painful." Emma frowned.

"But don't you want to know how this happened?" Lewis lowered his voice, "Please, this will be a major breakthrough. We might even figure out how to counter act the full moon effect."

"All of that from one scale?" Rikki didn't believe him.

"Possibly."

"Alright Lewis, but you can only have a very little one." Cleo gave in first like always, she wanted to help in most anyway she can.

As Lewis continued to try to convince the remaining girls couple of booths down two teenagers listened wide-eyed. They had heard Zane's speech about finding a mermaid, no one believed him of course. As they overheard this conversation they began to put a few things together. Greed began to cloud their judgment and a plan of action was born.

In Lewis' secluded fishing spot Emma was giving up one of her shining scales. She scrunched her face in pain as Lewis slowly pulled on it. Cleo and Rikki were sun drying nearby scrunching their faces as well in remembered pain. Rikki had made it clear in-between wail s that this process would never happen again. When they returned to the JuiceNet Café for a quick drink, before returning to their own homes, they spotted a flyer on one of the outside tables.

"Oh no." Cleo whined.

"This is bad, we need to keep clear of the water until this dies down." Emma advised wisely.

"Who wrote this garbage? A third grader?" Rikki laughed, "_Ten-thousand dollars to anyone who catches the behemoth fish_. I could have done better."

"This is not funny Rikki that picture looks just like our tails." Cleo whispered.

"Okay so we need to get rid of all these flyers and find out who has been passing them out. Cleo you find Lewis and show him the flyer. Rikki and I will clean up." Emma instructed.


	3. Chapter 3

Cleo looked in all of Lewis' regular haunts before deciding to call him. She knew it would have saved a lot of time if she had just called him to begin with, but wanted the satisfaction of finding him herself.

"Lewis where are you?" she asked upset.

"I'm at the marine park getting some dead fish samples. Are you okay?"

"No, we're in trouble and we need your help. I'm on my way to the marine park meet me at the entrance." Cleo picked up the pace as she signed off. It was a short walk from Lewis' house to the marine park. She made it to the entrance and waited for Lewis impatiently looking at her watch every few seconds. Lewis should have been waiting for her and it worried her even more that he wasn't there yet.

"Don't tell me you're after that thing too?" Zane asked rudely somewhere behind Cleo.

"No, I just found it. Zane you wouldn't happen know who is passing these out, would you?"

"Yeah some of Nate's mates. They stole my drawing of the mermaid tail I saw. If you see them let me know." Zane left Cleo standing soaking in what see just heard.

"Wait Zane, what do they look like? What are their names?" Cleo yelled but it was too late he was already out of sight. Her phone rang suddenly, she thought about ignoring it and chasing after Zane , but she looked at her caller I.D. anyway, it was Lewis.

"Where are you Lewis?" She asked irritated.

"I'm almost there I got a little caught up in what I was doing. I just wanted to make sure you got here. I can see you now." He hung up and walked the last few feet before tapping Cleo on the shoulder.

"I just talked to Zane and he knows who is passing these out." She handed him the flyer, "I've got to let Emma know." She pulled out her phone and began to call Emma.

Lewis was studying the flyer. He immediately recognized the picture of the tail. Nothing else stuck out it was printed on ordinary white paper with the default font. There was nothing telling you where to go if you catch this _fish_, implying that whoever passed it out knew no one could catch it. A thought suddenly hit Lewis.

"Cleo this is a trap! You need to tell Emma to leave the flyers alone and to go home now! Call Rikki too." Lewis quickly said.

Cleo's eyes got big, she knew what this meant and she did what he said. They ran to Emma's house and met the others waiting inside. A look of relief crossed all their faces when everyone was together. They started this meeting by stating the obvious ground rules like no more swimming then moved on to the important details.

"Why would some of Nate's friends even care?" Rikki asked amused, "It's not like Nate has any friends that are to much smarter than him."

"Are they even his friends? They could have lied." Lewis stated, "We need to talk to Zane and get their names."

"I'll do it." Everyone stared at Rikki, "What? I can be much more persuasive than you guys."

"That's true." Cleo said defeated, "But what will we do after we find out who it is?"

"I've got it!" Lewis sprang up from his seat, "We'll stage a catching of the enormous fish. We will have to make a top half of a fish to go with your tail. Of course it will have to be realistic enough to…or we could make a whole suit and call them out on a hoax?"

"Or we could wait until they get bored and move on." Emma said smartly.

Everyone did just that. They resisted the temptation to get in the water. Lewis tried to help in any way he could. The only thing they worried about was the next full moon especially Emma. She fretted constantly over it. Lewis even asked her to take a break and let the others handle it. It was a moot point to follow, she wouldn't listen to him.

"I'm starting to doubt how well we will be able to pull this off." Emma explained, "Maybe if we do things just like last time. The stress is just getting to me. What if I mess up?"

"That's why where are three of us to help pick up the slack. It's Cleo's month anyway let her worry about it." Rikki said.

"Yeah let me worry about it. It's not like we've never had a successful night at my house." Cleo added.

"But we haven't. That's why I'm worried." Emma buried her face in her hands, "I hope this blows over soon. I need a swim."


	4. Chapter 4

"I just don't get it. Shouldn't they be trying harder? I mean if I'm going to catch someone or something I'm going to do everything in my power to get it. These guys aren't trying at all." Rikki said. They had gathered in Cleo's bedroom. Lewis was sprawled on the bed and the girls were scattered around the room.

"You're right and we still don't know who they are." Lewis said.

"We need to draw them out." Rikki continued, "We should lift the swim ban."

"Why so they can catch us? Are you crazy?" Emma asked bewildered, "We need to focus our attention on the full moon."

"Exactly. Lets get moon struck and go for a swim. Lewis will be waiting at Mako and if the boys follow us we will capture them before they capture us."

"That sounds kinda risky." Cleo said joining Lewis on the bed, "What if something goes wrong?"

"This waiting game is driving me mad, it's time to take action. If you don't want to risk yourself to be able to swim free again then don't come."Rikki said.

"I want to swim again, but I want to keep the secret also, I don't want to risk others finding out."

"Who would believe them? Everyone will think they've been hanging around Zane to much. Besides we have a week until the next full moon, right. We need to bait them all week. Lets go swimming."

"Right now?" Emma asked still wondering if this made any sense.

"Right now." Rikki grabbed the girls' wrists and pulled them out of the Sertori house.

They were led to the canal and stopped by the bank. Rikki let go and jumped in. Cleo and Emma looked at each other before they followed her in. The water felt invigorating after going so long without being in the ocean. It was just something about the saltwater that you couldn't recreate in the bath no matter how hard you tried. They raced off leaving Lewis to fend for himself in Cleo's room. He knew it would be useless to follow them out and even more useless to talk Rikki out of it. They had waited patiently for almost a month, trap or no trap, she was right it was time to settle this.

Emma, Rikki and Cleo swam like their lives depended on it. Being careful when they came up for air, they didn't want any surprises until the full moon, just in case they were being watched. The swim ended after midnight. The girls were exhausted and still had to figure out how to sneak back in Cleo's house. Luckily Lewis had foreseen this problem and was waiting at the back door. They thanked him then dismissed him. He wasn't supposed to there anyway, Cleo's dad thought he had already left. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he knew he was still there.

Cleo didn't get one foot on the first stair before a flashlight shined over her face.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kim asked with mock authority.

"Kim why are you out of bed? It's none of your business what I do."Cleo shoved past her younger sister.

"I saw Lewis let you in he was supposed to be gone at seven." Kim climbed a few more steps to block the way.

"Does it matter? Go to bed." Cleo reached out for the flashlight but only ended up with a fistful of air.

"I'm telling Dad." Kim turned around to climb the remaining stairs.

"How will you explain why you were up so late?" Cleo turned to Rikki, "Let's lock her in her room."

Rikki smiled and rush to grab Kim. Together they picked her up and shoved her in her room. Emma quickly froze the lock and they hurried off the bed. The rest of the week remained normal. They went of swims together and used their powers as they normally did. They would meet at the JuiceNet Café and talk about plans to meet at Mako on the full moon. Everything was going according to plan as far as they knew.


	5. Final

Meanwhile on the beach two teens arrived and walked toward a tall man near the water.

"Mr. Rollins we've gathered more evidence." One of the boys handed the man an envelope.

"I told you, call me Barry. What's this then." Barry opened the envelope and read the paper within, "Are you sure this is real?"

"Yeah, you gonna pay us now?" the other boy asked impatiently.

"Yeah, here you go." Barry reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money, "I'll call you."

The teens left the beach satisfied. Barry Rollins stayed by the water staring out at the horizon. He had a lot of time to think in prison. He was just recently let out on parole, by blackmailing the judge. Revenge would be sweet, he could almost taste it. Now that he knew where she was, he laughed quietly and walked back to his boat.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Cleo?" Lewis asked for the last time.

"Yeah, I've got to run some errands with Kim and finish my chores from yesterday." Cleo mumbled.

"Come straight over when you finish, we need to survey the rest of Mako island together. If something goes wrong tomorrow we need an escape plan." Emma stated. Everyone was sitting in Lewis' boat except Cleo who was standing on the pier, her arms crossed and jaw set. She wanted to go with them and cursed herself for neglecting her chores.

"I'll try to be done by six." Cleo waved to them as Lewis started the motor and sped away. She drug her feet back to the house and hurried through her work. Kim refused to do the dishes for any amount of money. Cleo gathered her courage and her gloves and prepared the sink. Kim walked by as she began and tossed some dishes in the sink, water splashed out on Cleo and she barely managed to dry off in time.

Cleo finished all her chores just after six, ran to the canal and dove in. She surfaced about a mile off the shore. She looked at the shore, she quickly spotted Lewis' boat. Near the boat Barry Rollins was dragging Rikki to another boat he had anchored close by. Cleo swam to the boat and grabbed hold of the anchor and started to swim as fast as she could out to sea. Without a safe way off the island, Barry turned around and headed into the woods.

When Cleo felt she was far enough out she turned around swam towards the moon pool. She slowly lifted her head out of the water getting a good look around and seeing it was all clear she pulled herself out of the water. Lewis' gear looked hastily thrown up against one wall.

Elsewhere Emma looked at her watch, it was getting late. She turned around and headed back to the moon pool. About midway there she spotted Lewis. He was crouching behind some jagged rocks. Interested Emma jogged over and crouched beside him. Looking over his shoulder she saw Rikki, her hands and feet were taped together. Emma couldn't see her face, but assumed she was gagged as well since she couldn't hear any rude remarks aimed for her assailant.

"Lewis, what if she gets wet while she's still taped?" Emma whispered.

"Hopefully it will break," he whispered back, "You should wait for Cleo at the moon pool. I've been watching for some time now and I think I have a plan."

"No need, look." Emma pointed to a ball of water floating near Rikki. It took the shape of a blade and Emma took the opportunity to freeze it. The blade hesitated then quickly cut the tape binding Rikki's hands. Cleo jumped out of a bush and finished the job. They both ran to Emma when she stood up and then high-tailed it to the moon pool, the one safe place they knew.

"That was unexpected." Lewis commented in hushed tones, "What happened?"

"The so called Barry Rollins got a get out of jail free card, that's what happened." Rikki answered rubbing her wrists.

"Where did he go?" Cleo whispered.

"He already had a camp ready, I guess he went to get his supplies. I saw it before he went tape crazy. "

"Or he was looking for another way off the island." Cleo finished.

"My boat!" Lewis ran out of the cave.

"We should leave." Rikki said.

"We will as soon as Lewis gets back." Emma responded. They waited twenty minutes before Lewis returned, an abashed look on his face.

"Can you guys, maybe, give me a tow?" he asked.

"Give you a what?!" Rikki eyed him like he had just grown another head.

"Your Mr. Rollins has siphoned my gas. I won't get but a couple miles out before she stops. I need someone to pull me to shore…unless you have a better idea?"

Rikki was about to speak but Cleo beat her to it.

"I'll do it, go as far as you can I'll be waiting."

Rikki tried to talk again but Cleo and Emma grabbed hold of her and jumped in the water. Lewis retreated as well, getting to his boat and meeting up with Cleo. She drug him to their fishing spot where Rikki and Emma were waiting on the rocky shore.

"What are we going to do? After what I did to him, he oughta be scared." Rikki looked to Emma for a plan.

"You mean what are we not going to do? He is stranded on Mako. Besides all we have to do is call the police and let them handle it. You have the bruises to convict him." Lewis said.

"Good, all that's left now are Nate's friends." Cleo smiled.

"Already taken care of. I spoke to Zane before we left, he is probably still making them regret stealing that picture from him. No need to thank me all at once, ladies." Lewis puffed out his chest.

"For what?" Rikki asked amused.

"For helping you out of this mess. What would you do without me."

"A lot of things." Rikki said sarcastically walking away.

Fin.


End file.
